DARDANELLE — What would a bunch of 17-year-olds in 1976 think was important enough to save in a time capsule?

That is the question on the minds of the Dardanelle High School class of 1977, which memorialized the era in a special time capsule that will be opened 35 years later on Saturday night at Tarascos.

The time capsule was discovered in June during remodeling at the High School. Jerry Don Woods, class member, said the class was aware that the time capsule had been buried in the area and told Van Horn Construction to be on the lookout for it.

“I got a phone call saying that Miss Lawrence had something for me in the office they thought belonged to me,” Woods said. “There was our time capsule. Our entire class is looking forward to this, and we’re also a little nervous. None of us remember exactly what we put in it. There’s no telling what a bunch of 17-year-olds wrote in 1976.”

Woods said many classmates remember writing letters to put in the time capsule, but he doesn’t remember if there were photos included or not.

He said the era was all about music. The clothing was still jeans and bell bottoms, and prom attire for the guys was powder blue with ruffles, unless you were Woods, and then you wore canary yellow to the prom.

“It was really the music that drove everything,” Woods said. “It was before the crazy disco stuff and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hotel California, Fleetwood Mac, the Doobie Brothers and the sound of Motown before it became hip-hop was huge. We’ll be listening to the music of that era Friday night when we all get together.”

Woods said the festivities begin at 1:30 p.m. on Friday at the high school before the homecoming assembly to crown the queen and then proceed to a chicken dinner at 5 p.m. hosted by the band boosters for all reunion classes.

Then, Woods said, the class of 1977 will host a reunion party after the football game and open the time capsule at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at Tarascos.

“We hope everyone that wants to come and enjoy a blast from the past comes Friday night, but especially Saturday,” Woods said. “It will be interesting to see what we thought was important enough to memorialize in the time capsule.”